Chapter One
When Birkhoff woke, he was surprised that his headache had not resolved. The dull throbbing only turned worse into blinding, searing pain as he sat up. Grimacing, he swung his legs out of the bed to get up. Coughing, he could barely catch his breath. Birkhoff could not remember the last time he had been this sick. So far it had been dragging on for a couple of weeks. Medical had checked him, but told him it was just a cold.
For the last week Birkhoff had mainly been working on his laptop, in his bed, when he was awake. It had been fairly lonely- o one wanted to visit him while he was sick. Now he had had enough bed rest and wanted to get out and about, no matter how bad he still felt. About halfway across the room he paused, thinking 'I'm in worse shape than I thought.'
It took him a lot longer than he expected, his head spinning and pounding as he headed out to Operations. As he got to the point where the hall opened up into Operations, he started to feel weak. Nikita and Michael glanced at him as he lost all his strength and unexpectedly dropping to the floor.
Nikita and Michael had looked up from their conversation to see Birkhoff heading towards them. While he did not exactly look good, he was out of bed for the first time in a week. Her relief was short lived when Birkhoff suddenly dropped to the floor.
Michael and Nikita immediately ran to his side. "Birkhoff?" Alex shouted, joining them at Birkhoff's side.
Getting on her knees, Alex was beside Birkhoff and felt for a pulse. "He's got a pulse, but he's very warm."
Running across Operations, Nikita grabbed a first aid kit and ran back. There was a thermometer in it and she took it out, quickly replacing it in Birkhoff's ear. When it beeped, she read the number- "103.4. We've got to get him to medical!"
Michael carefully picked Birkhoff up immediately feeling the heat radiating from his body. In fear for the tech's life, he began to run towards medical. As soon as he got there, he placed Birkhoff carefully on the table. Almost immediately he began to seize, violently shaking on the exam table. "He's just passed out in Operations- he's been in bed for a week. He just started seizing now."
Joining Nikita and Alex behind the glass outside of Medical, Michael watched the medical team work. They watched in a panic as they lost Birkhoff's pulse and began to shock him with a defibulizer. Drawing blood they worked quickly, trying to save the techs life. "What the hell is going on?" Michael randomly asked aloud.
"I think they missed something." Alex announced, hugging herself to try to bring some comfort to the situation.
"Our medical techs are the best. It wouldn't be likely." Michael replied.
"Obviously they missed something because he is not okay." Nikita protested, tears forming in her eyes. "We can't lose him."
Michael put his arm around Nikita's waist. "I'm sorry." Michael replied, giving her a squeeze and resting his head against hers. "They will figure out what's wrong and get him better, Birkhoff is a fighter."
It was several hours later when Sean, Nikita, Alex, Ryan and Michael were fathered around Birkhoff's bed. For the time being he was in a medically-induced coma. The doctor came over to talk to them. "We got him back and he should wake up, but we discovered a much bigger problem in his blood work."
The group was confused. "What kind of problems?" Sean finally brought himself to ask.
"His white blood count was through the roof. He has a form of Leukemia." The doctor slowly reported.
The group was flabbergasted and silent. They all had the same question on their minds- How their funny, super intelligent head tech could be so sick. "Is he going to be okay?" Alex asked.
"He has ALL." The doctor replied.
The group all locked at each other in complete and utter shock. "Cancer?" Sean managed to ask.
Nodding, the doctor replied, "Yes. Acute Leukemia. It's treatable, but you are going to have to create a cover and get him in a position to have chemo at a local hospital as soon as possible."
"When will he wake up? Alex asked.
The doctor scanned over Birkhoff's chart quickly. "I would say a couple hours. But just so you know what we are talking about- Birkhoff needs to be in chemo within a few days for the best survival chance."
Everyone's minds were racing. They had dealt with so much with their battle, but this was the first time they would have to deal with a medical condition that was threatening one of their lives. "What do we do?" Alex asked.
"We have to get him a cover packet so he has an identity to use when he goes for treatment." Michael answered.
"Him and someone else." Ryan replied. "He's going to have to have someone to watch him and monitor him after chemo."
"We'll have to send a girl with him as his girlfriend." Nikita suggested.
Michael nodded in agreement. "That's going to probably be good."
"I'll call Gustav- see if we can get new identity packages." Nikita announced. "What girl are we going to pull for him?"
Ryan and Michael both thought for a few minutes, then quietly conferred on their ideas. Alex, Nikita and Sean just watched until Michael finally explained, "We should send Sadie. She tech rained, so when he is sick he could still walk her through his requirements."
"She went to medical school too." Ryan added, "So she would be in a good position to help him."
"Great. I'll get everything started." Nikita headed off to call Gustav. "Alex, can you tell Sadie what is going on?"
Alex glanced at Birkhoff, and then nodded. "I'll let her know."
"I'll stay with Birkhoff until he wakes." Sean announced.
"I'll do some research, where we can set Birkhoff and Sadie up so he can get treatment. Get them cars, an apartment and those kinds of things." Michael also headed off.
Alex arrived at Sadie's room and knocked softly on the door. Sadie was one of the best agents they had so Alex was not too surprised when she answered her door right away. "Alex," Sadie greeted her. "How can I help you?"
"Can I come in?" Alex asked.
Nodding, Sadie let Alex walk into her bedroom, Sadie shutting the door behind her. "What's going on?" Sadie asked again.
"We just got bad news about Seymour Birkhoff." Alex started to explain.
"Is he okay?" Sadie asked. "I heard he passed out in Operations."
Alex took a deep breath. "We just found out that he has a serious medical condition that requires medical treatment that we cannot provide."
"So now what?" Sadie asked.
"We need to put Birkhoff undercover to get the care he needs. We also have to send him with someone to help him while he's outside because he could get so sick."
"Sure." Sadie replied, starting to sense where this was going.
"So Nikita and Michael are working on putting you and Birkhoff undercover, you as his girlfriend to get him treatment." Alex explained.
"Alright." Sadie agreed. "When does this start?"
"Birkhoff is still unconscious from a seizure. Once he wakes and we can tell him what's going on, we'll get you out there as soon as possible."
"I'll be waiting." Sadie replied in agreement. "Just let me know."
"I will. Thanks for your cooperation." Alex thanked her.
Sadie smiled. "That's what I am here for."
Back in medical, Sean and Ryan were still sitting with Birkhoff. Ryan had called the president to advise them of what was going on so it did not raise any flags and the president agreed on their course of action. While she couldn't officially condone them using fake identification, she did understand the need for it considering Division's situation. About an hour had passed since they had been given the confirmation of Birkhoff's condition when Nikita came back into Medical. "So?" Ryan needed her report.
"Gustav will have them ready in a few hours. We can hopefully meet him on the way to the apartment."
Ryan nodded. "Sounds like if Michael can get things accomplished on his side of things we'll be all set."
"If Birkhoff wakes." Sean replied.
"I have everything set up." Michael came back into Medical. "I have set them up with an apartment in Boston so we can get him treated at Boston general. I have a car for them to get there reserved in the auto port and they are getting it set up with a Massachusetts license plate."
"What's happened?" a groan from Birkhoff got all their attention.
"Birkhoff?" Sean greeted him.
"Birkhoff?" Sean greeted him in disbelief.
"Nerd?" Nikita added at almost the same time.
Birkhoff opened his eyes and looked up at group surrounding him. "What, are you having a convention here?" he softly asked both with a groan.
"You passed out in Operations." Michael told him.
"And you all brought me here?" Birkhoff had his sense of humor intact.
"We were all worried about you." Nikita replied.
"I'm fine. You can a go on your merry way." Birkhoff gruffly replied.
No one said anything, but Birkhoff could tell something was up by the long faces. "What is going on guys?" Birkhoff finally asked.
No one wanted to tell Birkhoff what was going on. The group just nervously looked back and forth until Michael finally sat beside Birkhoff so he could look directly at him. "The doctor found something." Michael explained.
"Something like what?" Birkhoff arched his eyebrows at Michael.
"Leukemia. Acute Leukemia." Michael couldn't look Birkhoff in the eyes, so he looked down at the floor.
"What?" Birkhoff's eyes suddenly bulged.
"Birkhoff, I'm sorry but you have cancer." Michael felt his eyes begin to tear as everyone's had by this point.
"But we have everything set up. We're gonna get you everything you need to get better." Nikita leaned in and hugged Birkhoff.
"What happens now?" he whispered, completely terrified.
"Chemo. We are setting up for you and another agent to get an apartment in Boston with an undercover identity so you can get treatment at Boston General." Michael explained.
"You're going to beat this Birkhoff." Alex added, "And we're all going to help you."